Valtteri Bottas says he considered walking away from F1 after the 2018 Russian Grand Prix where a team order from Mercedes forced him to hand a probable win to teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Bottas had put himself in command of the Sochi race at the outset after starting from pole. But at the halfway mark, an ominous call from Mercedes strategist James Vowles ordered the Finn to relinquish his position to Hamilton in order to create a buffer between the Briton and the Ferrari of title rival Sebastian Vettel.
Mercedes' decision - dictated by the title fight between Hamilton and Vettel - understandably did not go down well with the Finn who had given it his all in the race to secure his first win of the season.
In an episode of F1's 'Drive to Survive' which was just released on Netflix, Bottas revisited the painful moment and the distress it caused.
"Sochi 2018, that was a pretty tough race," Bottas said. "Tough to accept. I was pretty angry.
"Honestly I was thinking ‘Why do I do this?’. I was thinking of quitting, of giving up. Straight after the race, I said I would not do it again."
For Bottas, the stinging blow was a reminder of Mercedes' ruthless approach to team orders when a situation warrants a clear-cut decision in the team's interest.
Despite Hamilton's hegemony in the past two season, Bottas remains determined to prove that he is not a mere number 2 at Mercedes.
"If your teammate wins and you are second, you feel like you lose," said Bottas in 'Driver to Survive'. "I know I’ve been second in the past, but I want to prove I’m not just a number two."
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